Just Eat, the largest takeaway delivery company in Europe, is cutting a staggering 1,700 courier jobs after the company had a 9 percent slump in customer orders last year.

Food delivery services are now having to battle with the reopening of pubs and restaurants after Covid restrictions have been relaxed.

The takeaway delivery firm has announced that they will no longer employ their own couriers.

Moving forward, they will be using contractors instead.

Delivery staff have been given six weeks’ notice pay, as the process of redundancy is expected to start soon.

What will the difference be between their own couriers and the new contractors?

The new contractors will not have access to the perks that the firms own couriers had access to.

These benefits included sick pay, as well as uncapped sick pay. The contractors will also not be receiving a fixed hourly rate.

Joanne Thorne, Technical Compliance Manager at SJD Accountancy, says:

“Several years ago, the Department for Work and Pensions announced it was developing new ways to include self-employed workers in pension schemes. Auto-enrolment into pensions does not apply to the self-employed, so we’re yet to see how anything on that front will materialise.

“It’s clear that self-employed workers are still a way behind PAYE workers when it comes to pensions, so more needs to be done to support the millions of hard-working contractors and freelancers that play such a vital role in our economy.”

 

 

 

 

Amelia Brand
Amelia Brand

Amelia Brand is the Editor for HRreview, and host of the HR in Review podcast series. With a Master’s degree in Legal and Political Theory, her particular interests within HR include employment law, DE&I, and wellbeing within the workplace. Prior to working with HRreview, Amelia was Sub-Editor of a magazine, and Editor of the Environmental Justice Project at University College London, writing and overseeing articles into UCL’s weekly newsletter. Her previous academic work has focused on philosophy, politics and law, with a special focus on how artificial intelligence will feature in the future.